Are ghosts real? Experts weigh in on spirits, hauntings and the paranormal (2024)

Have you ever experienced something you just can't explain?

Maybe you've felt an unseen presence or witnessed paranormal activity. Perhaps you've had a dream in which you're reunited with a loved one or something more sinister like been haunted by a spirit.

Even if you've experienced none of the above, you still might be wondering if ghosts are real. If so, you aren't alone. People have been pondering that very question for centuries.

For some, the idea of spirits returning from the dead to visit the living is nothing more than campfire fodder or the plot of horror movies. For others, however, there's no question that ghosts exist.

In fact, nearly two-thirds of Americans report having experienced some type of paranormal encounter, including hearing unexplained voices, seeing objects move on their own volition, as well as other mysterious happenings that seem to defy all conventional logic.

And one in five people claim they've seen a ghost or spirit firsthand.

But have they really?

It's hard to know for sure. More than that, it seems unimaginable that souls from the afterlife walking among us. But if they are, then who are they and why have they come? And if they aren't, then why have so many people had experiences that there's seemingly no rational explanation for?

To gain some insight, TODAY.com spoke to a trio of experts, including a professor specializing in parapsychology, a medium and a psychic, to share their views on ghosts, the paranormal and what they think happens to us after we die.

What are ghosts, really?

For a lot of people, the word “ghost” conjures up one of two images: A menacing apparition that terrorizes unsuspecting homeowners, or a cute trick-or-treater covered in a white bed sheet.

Stereotypes aside, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a ghost as a “disembodied soul,” or the soul of someone who’s died that either lives in the spirit world or, somehow, still exists in ours.

Sherrie Dillard, medium and author of the book “I’m Still With You,” says it's important to distinguish between ghosts and the spirits of loved ones who have passed on. Because according to Dillard, they aren't one and the same.

When loved ones die, she says they leave the earth and pass into a “higher loving existence,” whether it be heaven, “the light” or any other concept of the afterlife.

Similar to ghosts, Dillard says that we may occasionally feel the presence of those loved ones after they are gone, whether it be in dreams, paranormal activity or other encounter. And in those instances, she says we typically have feelings of warmth, recognition or love.

“It doesn’t emotionally incite,” she tells TODAY.com. “For most people, we don’t get scared or fearful. Most of the time people will recognize, ‘Oh, I feel like my grandmother was here, or my mother or father, or just have that feeling.’”

Ghosts, however, are a different story. Dillard says we rarely, if ever, know who they are. “Usually, it strikes us as a different energy. It strikes us as something we’re not familiar with,” she explains.

If not acquaintances or loved ones, then who are they?

“Most commonly, ghosts are human beings, people who pass over and, for various reasons, resist going into that higher level of love and resolution," says Dillard. She explains that one of the reasons a ghost might stick around instead of moving on to “the other side” is trauma.

“They may have been in a sudden accident, or some trauma unexpectedly, and they don’t realize that they are actually passed over,” she says. “I know that sounds strange, but it’s true.”

Confused or “lost,” the ghost lingers. “What they do is they try clinging to any kind of energy source; they’ll cling to a house or the people in the house.”

Ghosts can also be attached to other physical objects, she says, including antiques or anything with a “strong emotional energy.”

What does science say about ghosts?

Christine Simmonds-Moore, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at the University of West Georgia who specializes in parapsychological research.

According to Simmonds-Moore, ghosts are found in every single culture and have been recorded throughout history.

“Ghosts come from experience,” she tells TODAY.com. “So, human beings have had experiences with spirits — and we can be neutral on whether some of those are genuine spirits, or whether they are explained more normally. But irrespective of that, people have had experiences because it’s a big part of being human.”

Whether those experiences are related to more earthly things like a near-death experience, loss of a loved one, or occur in an altered state such as a dream, deep relaxation or are chemically induced, in trying to understand them, they can change our perception or beliefs.

From there, those beliefs can lead to other experiences, including seeing ghosts. Bottom line? If you think there are ghosts, then you’re more inclined to think you’ve seen one.

“There’s a whole hierarchy of different types of ghost experiences,” Simmonds-Moore says, “and some of them are much more easy to explain using normal psychology than others.”

That said, Simmonds-Moore says that there are incidences in which people have paranormal encounters and inexplicably gain “access to information that they didn’t have access to” prior to those encounters. And those are somewhat less easy to explain.

Examples include things like people traveling to a location they’ve never been to, yet they “seem to know things what they shouldn’t know,” including events that occurred there or what a person they’ve never met was wearing, and other unexplainable circumstances.

“It doesn’t mean that it’s the media idea of a ghost, that there’s something persisting and haunting. It could be that it’s information that is tied to a place ,and some people who are in these different states are more able to notice that information and have access to than others,” she says.

According to Simmonds-Moore, some people believe they’ve had encounters with deceased loved ones, which is understandable given feelings of bereavement and loss, she says.

“But sometimes they might know that somebody’s going to pass before they do, or they might an encounter with an apparition, and they don’t know that the person has actually passed away and they see the apparition at the point of death and dying,” she says.

More than that, they might know how the person died even before the information has been relayed.

“I think that there are probably some extremely strong cases that are very rare, where you can’t always apply the normal explanation,” Simmonds-Moore says. “But the fact that they occur at all is interesting.”

So does all of this information make the case that ghosts are real?

“I think it’s probably more like information that has aspects of somebody’s life that might persist, and then other people might be able to access that field of consciousness," Simmonds-Moore says.

Whether they exist in the traditional sense or not, Simmonds-Moore says that there are many, very rare experiences that are difficult to explain.

In those cases, normal explanations don't necessarily fit.

"This implies that there are some experiences that are more intriguing, so there is a big question mark for those."

If ghosts are real — what do they want?

Psychic and medium Chip Coffey has appeared on more than 130 paranormal TV shows, including “Kindred Spirits.” And much like Dillard, he considers ghosts to be deceased people whose souls haven’t properly transitioned.

“They’re kind of stuck in the middle someplace. They’ve remained on the third-dimension plane and, for whatever reason, they may have, they haven’t completed their transition into Spirit,” he tells TODAY.com.

When it’s a loved one visiting us, Coffey says there are a variety of reasons to explain why they’ve come.

“Sometimes it’s because they love us and they want us to understand that death is not the end, that death doesn’t end relationships — it just alters them, changes them. Sometimes it’s because we call them up and they can choose whether or not they’re going to interact with us. But many times, they’ll willingly come through and bridge that gap where our two realms connect,” he says.

Ghosts have different agenda, according to Dillard.

“Wherever there’s strong emotional energy, they’re attracted to it because they need a source of energy,” she says. “And sometimes ghosts will want to be known, they’ll want to be recognized, because they want our emotional reaction.”

Even if that reaction is stress or fear, Dillard says ghosts don’t mind because one way or another, they’re receiving the attention or emotional energy they’re seeking. “They sometimes want help, too. They’ll want someone to see them, know them, know there’s something here and tell them where to go.”

In rare cases, Dillard says certain ghosts, like poltergeists, have a darker purpose and, unlike lost souls seeking direction, they gravitate toward negative energy.

For instance, places with a lot of history or where bad things or traumas have occurred can attract these negative spirits.

“They invoke an incredible amount of fear in people for good reason. If you’ve got something flying across the room, it could hurt you. And they don’t tend to react or respond to us in any other way than invoking fear in a negative, powerful way,” she explains.

Even more rare are demonic spirits like the one portrayed in the horror movie “The Exorcist.” But Dillard believes they exist. “They will happen,” she says. “There’s documented cases of things.”

What to do if you think you have a ghost

While some people are convinced that ghosts, spirits, poltergeists or other otherworldly apparitions are real, there are, of course, skeptics.

“In my line of work, I get that all the time,” says Dillard. “I just tell people that it’s fine. With things like this, we can only really believe if we’ve experienced them. We can believe it’s possible, we can believe that maybe someone else may believe it. But, normally, we become true believers when we’ve had some form of experience.”

According to Coffey, he’s seen far too much to not believe there’s more than meets the eye.

“How can there be so many stories about ghosts and spirits and paranormal things and just the realm of the weird for there not to be something there? I mean, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

He also dismisses the idea that only certain places on earth are “haunted.”

“I think every place is haunted. ‘Haunted’ is not a bad word. It’s just the presence of paranormal or spiritual activity,” he says.

“There can be the 'mom-and-pop' garden variety, non-malicious, non-malevolent haunting. Absolutely. A lot of people have died throughout history. There are a lot of dead people out there. So, ‘haunted?’ You’ve probably got spirits floating in this space right here. Most places have spirit activity,” Coffey explains.

For the average person, however, a ghost encounter, whether benign or not, can be pretty unsettling, if not downright scary.

If you believe it’s happening to you, Dillard suggests firmly, but kindly, telling them to leave.

“You can send a thought message, you can send a verbal message,” she says. “And that is: ‘You don’t belong here. You’re no longer in the physical world, and there’s a better place for you.’”

And in most cases, she says that it’s enough.

When it’s not, then it might be time to enlist the help of an expert.

“If you have a malicious or malevolent haunting, that’s when you have to call in the troops and get the help you need in trying to expel it,” says Coffey. “Get in touch with a reputable paranormal team that’s going to give you some good, sound advice on how to handle what’s going on in your house.”